Mixtur, the Barcelona festival recognized for the combination of pedagogical and training activities in the world of new sound creation, begins its twelfth edition this Thursday, October 5, with names from the international scene. During the ten days it lasts, from October 5 to 15, it will fill different spaces in the city with avant-garde music such as the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Center d'Arts Santa Mònica, the Nave Bostik, the Museu de la Música and L'Auditori de Barcelona, among others. This year, recognized names such as Trio Catch, Ensemble LUX:NM, Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble and Ensemble Kompopolex stand out on the line-up.
“It is the first time that we have programmed three concerts at the Nave Bostik in Barcelona, where we will also celebrate the opening of this year's edition,” explains Oliver Rappoport, one of the two directors of the festival, who is sure that the concert-performance by Kompopolex Ensemble, a project from Poland, will surprise with its light and electronic show. It will be this same Friday, October 6 at eight at night and the group will open and close the program with two pieces by the legendary composer La Monte Young.
On the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of György Ligeti's birth, Mixtur pays tribute to the Hungarian composer with a conference and several educational activities inspired by his works. There are five concerts scheduled, one of which will be monographic and performed by ESMUC students: the most notable are the Cello Sonata, the String Quartet No. 2 and the Symphonic Poem for 100 Metronomes (a collaboration of the Museum of Music with the University of Barcelona). .
“We had not yet decided on the name of the festival,” says Rappoport, remembering the first edition held in 2012. The intention then was to investigate the infinite possibilities of the world of musical creation and the research of new languages to do so. In addition to the growth in the festival's programming, new spaces have also been incorporated into the already traditional ones such as the Fabra y Coats Creation Factory, the Higher School of Music of Catalonia, the Auditori or the interdisciplinary arts center of Santa Mònica that will host this year more proposals than in previous editions.
For more than a decade, the festival has been committed to bringing some of the most innovative and risky proposals of new sound creation from around the world to the city of Barcelona. During the last editions the proposal has been consolidated and is now an unmissable event both at the national and European level. The proposal is now part of the Ulyses Project and the House.Music.Europe (HoME) Project together with around twenty festivals from all over Europe.
The idea of the festival arose thanks to the stays in Berlin and Paris of Oliver Rappoport and Oriol Saladrigues, composers and directors of the festival, who realized the lack of an event with these characteristics in Barcelona. Núcli i Perifèria was the name that the organization gave to that first day held in 2012 at Fabra and Coats and which has become today a ten-day festival with more than a decade of history.
